"For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal." – James Joyce (1882-1941)

Friday, October 22, 2010

Summer in Dublin by Bagatelle is almost an unofficial anthem for Dublin. The city really has produced or inspired many great rock bands, musicians and artists over the years. Some indeed have written songs specifically about the capital but this song really sticks out head and shoulders above the rest.

It was penned sometime back in the 1970s by Liam O'Reilly and was a hit for Bagatelle in 1980.

Summer in Dublin is a paean to a city and it could only be about Dublin. Listen carefully. Although told from the perspective of someone who is departing it's clear that he is leaving, not with bitter intent, but indeed with memories so fond as to be almost heart-wrenching:

So I'm leaving on wednesday morning trying to find a place where i can hear
The tunes of the birds and the sea on the rocks, where open roads always are near
And if sometimes I tire of the quiet, and I want to walk back up that hill
I'll just get on the road and stick out my thumb cos I know for sure you'll be there still.

Back then of course Ireland was a different place - as recalled here by one who would evidently rather forget. The economy was in something of a recession, everyone thought the place was going down the swanny and the Liffey really did stink like hell.

Not so today - the Liffey has cleaned up considerably in case you haven't noticed!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Welcome to Dublin Made Me - the blog that explores the culture of Dublin, Ireland's capital city, as it has been immortalised down through the years, in music, literature, art.

What better way to start the ball rolling than Dublin's own Colin Farrell and his reading from the poem by Donagh MacDonagh which also happens to be the name as our blog. It's called Dublin Made Me.

Donagh MacDonagh was a writer, judge, broadcaster and playwright. He was born in Dublin in 1912, the son of Thomas MacDonagh, an Irish nationalist and poet, who was executed for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916. He died on 1 January 1968 and is buried at Deans Grange Cemetery in Dublin.

This is Dublin Made Me by Donagh MacDonagh read by Dublin-born actor Colin Farrell. Colin is still very much alive, earning fame and renown as Hollywood actor. He hasn't let it get to his head though as, on the evidence of this, he remembers where it started.

Way to go Colin. Good on ya Donough. On ya boyos. No culchies here I tells ya. If there was I'd bate them wit me schtick.